The core Department’s electricity is purchased via the Crown Commercial Service energy framework from renewable sources, and is therefore exempt from the climate change levy.

Internet: Bullying

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to tackle cyber-bullying; and what resources his Department provides to charities which address this issue. [904621]

Mr Timpson: The Government believe that internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.

All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. The ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance outlines the importance of tackling cyberbullying, which can be found online at:

http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/schools-the-wider-sector/cyberbullying.aspx

Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.

The Government recognise that educating young people about online safety is key to tackling cyberbullying. As part of changes to the new computing programmes of study which will be taught from September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages. This will empower young people to tackle cyberbullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.

The new curriculum also offers opportunities to tackle the underlying causes of bullying; for example the new citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.

The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general this can, and does, include work to tackle cyberbullying.

The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Also through funding provided by the Department the Anti-Bullying Alliance has produced specific advice on cyberbullying for children and young

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people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.

Government Ministers have regular meetings with internet providers, social media platforms and search engines on matters related to internet safety, including cyber-bullying. Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport also co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together a range of experts across Government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.

In July 2013 the Prime Minister announced measures to support parents to install free and easy to use internet filters which can block access to harmful websites. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now rolled out easy to use filtering to all new customers and will confirm that, by the end of 2014, 95% of all homes with an existing internet connection will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter. The filters are constantly being refined and updated by the ISPs to keep families as safe as possible in the fast changing digital world. The ISPs have also announced a new £25 million internet safety campaign over three years that will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.

Pearson VUE

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make an assessment of the performance of Pearson VUE in delivering skills tests for prospective teachers on behalf of his Department. [202961]

Mr Laws: As the current contractor delivering the skills test for prospective teachers, Pearson VUE reports weekly to officials on day-to-day delivery against agreed service levels. Pearson VUE is also appropriately engaged in handover of the service to the new contractor.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what Pearson VUE's process is for appealing test results and complaints procedure. [202963]

Mr Laws: Pearson VUE operates a skills test helpline through which candidates' queries and complaints are managed. There is no appeals process against test results.

If a candidate considers that there was a technical or administrative error with the delivery of the test or marking, they are able to raise this either at the test centre at the time of the test or subsequently via the skills test helpline.

All such requests are considered on a case-by-case basis by Pearson VUE. Where appropriate, Pearson VUE escalates appeals to the Standards and Testing Agency to make the final determination.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which office in his Department or its arm’s length bodies has responsibility for the oversight of outsourcing QTS numeracy and skills tests to Pearson VUE. [202964]

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Mr Laws: The skills tests for prospective teachers were developed under a contract let by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to Pearson VUE in 2009. The Teaching Agency took over responsibility for oversight of contract management in 2012 when the TDA was abolished. Since November 2013, responsibility has rested with the Standards and Testing Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Education.

Pupils: Bullying

Mr Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to record cases of bullying as reported by victims in schools by counts of cyber-bullying and similar sub-categories. [202637]

Elizabeth Truss: There is no legal requirement on schools to record and report incidents of bullying and we have no plans to introduce one. Schools are free to develop their own approaches to monitoring bullying and exercise their own judgment as to what will work best for their pupils. For some schools, this will involve formal recording of incidents so that they can monitor bullying and identify where it is recurring between the same pupils. Alternatively, some schools may prefer to take a different approach, such as surveying their pupils anonymously to identify trends in bullying, including how safe young people feel at school.

Schools are held clearly to account by Ofsted for pupil behaviour and safety which includes how they tackle bullying. Inspectors consider the types, rates and patterns of bullying and the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment, including cyber-bullying.

Teachers

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of retention rates of qualified teachers. [203007]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education will publish statistics on teacher retention in late July as additional tables to the Statistical First Release “School Workforce in England, November 2013”, which is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013

Teachers: Qualifications

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the number of children who are taught by unqualified teachers. [203012]

Mr Laws: The information requested is not collected by the Department.

Teachers: Recruitment

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many trainee (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects, (u) secondary and (v) primary school teachers were recruited

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through (i) Teach First, (ii) School Direct (salary), (iii) School Direct (fee), (iv) other EBITT, (v) HEI-led and (vi) in total in (a) 2011-12 and (B) 2012-13; and what proportion of his Department's supply targets the number recruited in each category represents. [203084]

Mr Laws: The data held by the Department on initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment are contained within the ITT Census.

The ITT Census contains data on recruitment to courses and routes, but does not include Teach First (TF) for 2012-13.

Supply targets are included in the ITT Census publications, but are only generated at overall subject level and do not include TF numbers for the years in question.

The ITT Census for 2011-12 and 2012-13 is published online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#performance-data

Teach First recruitment for 2011-12 and 2012-13 was as follows:

Only those subjects shown above were included in the Teach First programme.

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many trainee (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects, (u) secondary and (v) primary school teachers were recruited through (i) Teach First, (ii) EBITT, (iii) HEI-led and (iv) in total in (A) 2010-11 and (B) 2011-12; and what proportion of his Department's supply targets the number recruited in each category in each year represents. [203085]

Mr Laws: The data held by the Department on initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment are contained within the ITT Census.

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The ITT Census contains data on recruitment to courses and routes.

Supply targets are included in ITT Census publications, but are only generated at overall subject level and do not include Teach First numbers for the years in question.

The ITT Census for 2010-11 and 2011-12 is published online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#performance-data

Teach First recruitment was as follows:

Only those subjects shown above were included in the Teach First programme.

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many trainee (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects, (u) secondary and (v) primary school teachers were recruited through (i) Teach First, (ii) EBITT, (iii) HEI-led and (iv) in total in (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11; and what proportion of his Department's supply targets the number recruited was in each category in each year represents. [203086]

Mr Laws: The data held by the Department on initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment are contained within the ITT Census.

The ITT Census contains data on recruitment to courses and routes.

Supply targets are included in ITT Census publications, but are only generated at overall subject level and do not include Teach First numbers for the years in question.

The ITT Census for 2010-11 is published online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#performance-data

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The data for 2009-10 recruitment are published in: ‘Additional tables 2: SFR06/2011’:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2010-provisional

These data do not contain supply target figures.

Teach First recruitment was as follows:

Only those subjects listed above were included in the Teach First programme.

Teachers: Retirement

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average retirement age was for teachers in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [202996]

Mr Laws: The average age at which teachers in publicly-funded schools in England drew their retirement benefits in every year between 2008-09 and 2012-13 was 59.

Teachers: Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teacher training places were allocated in (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects and in all (u) secondary and (v) primary schools across all initial teacher training pathways in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12 and (iv) 2012-13. [203087]

Mr Laws: The Department did not allocate places directly to primary or secondary schools in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Places were allocated to accredited initial teacher training (ITT) providers and it is their responsibility to arrange school placements.

For 2012-13, School Direct allocations were assigned to lead schools. This was published alongside all other ITT allocations by the Training and Development Agency. School Direct places are as follows.

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Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to school clothing grants via (a) vouchers and (b) cash or cheque to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out. [202668]

Mr Laws: There is no national school clothing grant operating currently in England.

Individual local authorities and academies may choose to provide school clothing grants or to help with the cost of school clothing in cases of financial hardship. In such cases, it is for the local authority or academy concerned to decide the criteria upon which pupils are entitled to this support. Local authorities and academies which choose to run such schemes must do so from within their existing delegated budgets.

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free early education to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out. [202676]

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Elizabeth Truss: Government-funded early education for three and four-year-olds is already a universal entitlement, so there would be no cost of extending the entitlement. Universal credit will be fully rolled out in

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the next Parliament, and spending decisions for that period have not been taken. This means it is, therefore not possible to estimate the potential cost on early learning for two-year-olds.